En garde, Tessa! How Ms Jowell foiled the fencers

An Olympic row erupted last night after a sporting executive charged with delivering gold for Team GB in 2012 accused ministers of breaking a key promise on funding.

On the day the Government announced a £29m cash injection for UK Sport – while still leaving a £50m black hole in funding for elite competitors over the next four years – Piers Martin, the chief executive of British Fencing, said Andy Burnham and Tessa Jowell had reneged on promises they made to the governing bodies of Olympic sports.

On 22 October, Ms Jowell, the Olympics Minister and Paymaster General, entertained senior figures from the bodies responsible for British fencing, cycling, swimming, judo, handball and badminton at a lavish dinner in Scott's restaurant, in Mayfair.

"She told us that though the Treasury couldn't necessarily fill the shortfall, the Government would ensure that the UK Sport budget would not be compromised or reduced", Mr Martin told The Independent yesterday.

"Both Jowell and Burnham promised us that the shortfall would be found in some way, shape or form.

"We pressed them on this matter, and they said they would not let us down. Now they have. The whole discussion was geared to how we can fill the huge shortfall in funding for 2012 in the context of worsening economic conditions. They were open and honest about how tough it would be, and said the Treasury was clearly stretched at the moment but said they'd do everything possible to find that money from the private sector," he added.

But last night Ms Jowell strongly refuted the claims. A spokesman for the Department for Culture, Media, and Sport, said: "Ms Jowell is absolutely clear that she has not misled anybody and that ministers have worked hard to get the best possible deal for British sport."

Andy Burnham, Secretary of State at the DCMS, which will oversee the Olympics, gave the same reassurances to chief executives from governing bodies at a separate Whitehall meeting on 4 November.

Adrian Christie, the chief executive of Badminton England who was present at both meetings, said: "Both ministers were keen to establish how we could fill the funding gap by pooling our resources. Any reduction in the level of funding for sports that have gold medal ambitions, such as badminton, could be extremely detrimental."

In his March 2006 Budget, the chancellor, Gordon Brown, announced £600m of funding for elite sport over six years. UK Sport, the funding body for elite sport, had budgeted for £300m in the run-up to the 2012 Games in London. Of that, £200m was to be public money, with £100m found from the private sector.

But because of the credit crunch, none of that £100m of private money materialised. An extra £21m from the Lottery reduced the shortfall to £79m, and yesterday Mr Burnham promised that the Exchequer would provide a further £29m, reducing the overall shortfall to £50m.

Team sports are most likely to take the brunt of cuts because they cost the most money per medal, and those sports that delivered limited success in Beijing this summer may also be neglected.

This weekend Lord Moynihan, chairman of the British Olympic Association, said the predicted budgetary cuts would make eighth place in the medals table at 2012 more realistic than the fourth place to which the Government is committed. Both he and Hugh Robertson, the shadow Olympics minister, have called on the Government to honour their pledge.

The DCMS insist that the picture is not nearly so gloomy. Team GB will receive a total of £40m more than they had in preparations for Beijing.